A while back, I did a bunch of video tests when ripping one of my favorite movies didn’t yield the usual results. This was actually, so crappy, that it lead me to reverting to x264/AVC encoding for later rips. Yes, it was that disappointing. But, I think I’ve come to conclusion the problem isn’t with x265–it’s somewhere between VLC and its handling of iOS based platforms.
One thing each of these tests shared was its reference view: my TV downstairs streamed via VLC. And lo-and-behold, it would rear its ugly head again. Recently, two projects for home improvement have come up.
First, is looking for a VLC replacement on iPad. The USB related woes I posted about with iPadOS 26.2 boiled over, causing me to both cease using VLC+USB on my iPad. It’s just so fucking bad. I’m inclined to believe this is either Tahoe or its support for APFS externals, anyway, it’s a road block enough to drop VLC. Something that’s been a staple since my Android -> iPad conversion now quite a few years ago. This lead me to adapting Infuse Pro as a viable replacement candidate. It experiences the same USB problems, and testing points the finger at Apple’s biscuit eating operating system in that regard.
However, that lead towards project number 2: I recently finished watching Picard seasons 2 and 3. Also, one of the few times I’ve used an actual Blu-ray player. After enjoying that, I opted to splurge on Star Trek: The Next Generation while The Complete Series edition Blu-ray set was near its 90 day low price. It’s one of those really-wants but never-gets. Because it’s expensive. Even on a great sale, we’re still talking like $100. I’ve only waited like a decade or so!
Well, watching the first disc or two on Blu-ray player wasn’t so bad. But of course, me being me, the longer term goal remains file server -> stream all the things. Honestly, the box set is a pain to jockey discs around. We’re talking about 6 BDs per season, packed line sardines, and with two or more discs per spindle. Yeah, screw that. It’s also a enough of a slog to rip though, that I created a new HandBrake preset with a modified audio selection scheme to expedite the processing.
So, imagine my surprise when I start to notice artifacting issues–using the same x264 reference. We’re talking wtf is this kind of artifacts. I nearly switched Hide and Q over to disc by the time the Enterprise-D reaches Q’s barrier. That’s circa the first 5 minutes. I wasn’t happy.
This lead to some further testing comparing video playback on my laptop (perfectly fine) and streaming to the Android version of VLC on the younger TV upstairs, perfectly fine. I’d consider choking up the latter to how modern TVs post-process video, but the same can’t be said for my PC monitor, which like many PC monitors doesn’t have those goodies. That testing was also dominated with IINA, basically a Mac version of MPV that isn’t annoying to install. My PC based laptop also had no issues. The only problem was the Apple TV, in VLC.
Deciding to try things a bit more scientifically, I made a reference conversion with x265 (HEVC) and a few encodings with Apple’s Video Toolbox in various H.265 and H.264 mode, to compare to the original x264 reference. I also uploaded the original MakeMKV rip, i.e., the full unadulterated Blu-ray video quality. It too sucked ass and artifiacted when played in the tvOS version of VLC!
Now, that’s where both home improvement projects intersect. Deciding to try Infuse on the Apple TV was going to be an experiment, and the Plex like TMDB integration made it worth installing for later testing. Faced with the issue with my ST: TNG rips, I decided to test this again. It’s there, why not try another data point? I really wanted to try another video player for comparison at this point.
This was followed by shouting and cursing, because it played fine. All fucking versions. As long as I didn’t use VLC to do it!
The outcome of this experiment has also lead to an unexpected shift. Since eliminating VLC from the picture solved the artifacts, I took a closer look at the hardware encoded files. The winner of which was made with one of HandBrake’s built in presets on Mac, which configures a 10-bit H.265 encode at CQ60 in quality mode. Not as high as the Video ToolBox tests I did with Pacific Rim in speed mode, but sufficient that ST: TNG looked good enough across data points to consider worthy of adoption. So, I’ve integrated a variant of the same profile I was using with this in place of x264. I was always a little miffed about the HEVC thing, but I now am pretty sure it just amounts to never use VLC on anything iOS-derived. Sorry, good ol’ x265. But on the flip side, I’ve also changed gears.
Results? Encoding time dropped to an average of about 4ΒΌ minutes from around 20+ minutes per episode, while presenting similar quality and file sizes curtesy of the newer codec. This is a fairly drastic shift, delivering the joys that are +200 fps to encoding times but not having to tank file sizes to maintain the quality. Based on the results for my ST: TNG tests, sans VLC, I’m considering adapting this as my new ‘standard’ for video encoding instead of returning to my x265 reference point or sticking with my older x264 reference point.